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ACI Europe Best Airport Award winners for 2015 announced

This years’ judging panel for the ACI Europe Best Airport Awards was drawn from a well-respected group of independent experts including EUROCONTROL, European Commission, European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), European Travel Commission (ETC) and Air Transport World.

PRAGUE – The 11th Annual ACI Europe Best Airport Awards were announced during the Gala Dinner of the 25th ACI Europe General Assembly, Congress & Exhibition, hosted by Prague Airport. The event is being attended by more than 350 industry representatives, including CEOs from major airports, airlines, air traffic management, national governments and the EU institutions. The theme of this year’s event is Airports and the Future of Tourism.

This years’ judging panel for the ACI Europe Best Airport Awards was drawn from a well-respected group of independent experts including EUROCONTROL, European Commission, European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), European Travel Commission (ETC) and Air Transport World. ACI Europe counts over 450 airports in 45 European countries among its membership and this year’s competition saw a high level of entries in the competition in each category.

The Awards cover 4 categories of airport and aims to recognise achievement in core activities such as customer service, facilities, retail, security, community relations and environmental awareness and operations. There is a separate award devoted specifically to airports’ environmental efforts.

The awards were presented to the winning airports by Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI Europe, Philippe Merlo, Director ATM EUROCONTROL, Matej Zakonjsek, Head of EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc’s cabinet, Victoria Moores, European Editor Air Transport World, and Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of the European Travel Commission.

The first award, recognising airports in the ‘under 5 million passenger’ category, went to London City Airport. The judges awarded the prize to the airport for its investments in key areas to reduce passenger-waiting time in the airport, its ability to develop long-term strategic relationships with airline partners and its commitment to environmental awareness.

Cork Airport and Tallinn International Airport were highly commended in the ‘under 5 million passenger’ category.

The winner of the ‘5-10 million passenger’ category was Cologne-Bonn Airport. The judges were particularly impressed by the airport’s innovation in customer experience, high degree of environmental action as well as its strong relationship with the local community.

The highly commended airports in the ‘5-10 million passenger’ category were Budapest Airport and Glasgow Airport.

This year’s award in the ‘10-25 million passenger’ category went to Milan-Malpensa Airport. The airport won praise from the judges for its new infrastructure and enhanced services to boost passenger experience. The airport was also noted for its dedicated initiatives to welcome international customers (e.g. Chinese travelers) and integration of art exhibitions promoting Italian and international culture.

The highly commended airports in the ’10-25 million passenger’ category were Hamburg Airport and Brussels Airport Company.

And in the category for airports with ‘over 25 million passengers’, this year’s ACI Europe Best Airport Award went to London Heathrow Airport. The judges singled it out for its success in opening the Queen’s Terminal last year, its integration of facilitation operations of passengers with reduced mobility and the advanced features it has supported in air traffic management, enhancing the airport’s performance.

The highly commended airports in the ‘over 25 million passenger’ category were Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport.

This year’s Eco-Innovation Award, which is awarded by the independent Advisory Board of the carbon management programme, Airport Carbon Accreditation, went to London Heathrow Airport for the extensive efforts it has made in energy efficiency, its groundbreaking research on aviation noise and its forward planning on environmental issues.

Finally, the WBP Recognition Award went to Torsten Hentschel, Managing Director of TH Airport Consulting, in recognition of his active participation and invaluable contributions to the ACI Europe Facilitation and Customer Services Committee as well as the Taskforce on the Passenger Experience.

The 26th ACI Europe General Assembly, Congress & Exhibition will be hosted by Athens International Airport and will take place in Athens on 20-22 June 2016.

Joint position on Open Skies by the european travel commision anD ACI Europe

On the occasion of the 25th ACI Europe Annual Assembly, Congress and Exhibition taking place in Prague, Arnaud Feist, President of ACI Europe and CEO of Brussels Airport announced the release of a joint position on Open Skies by ACI Europe and the European Travel Commission.

The statement underlines the need to support connectivity by expanding Open Skies beyond Europe. The priority should be about replicating the benefits achieved by the 2006 EU-US aviation agreement with the EU’s main trading partners – including ASEAN, China, the Gulf countries, India and Turkey. These EU-negotiated agreements should aim at liberalising market access on international air routes for both passenger and freight services. They should also achieve regulatory convergence on key issues relating to the efficient functioning of a liberalised aviation market – including fair competition.

Mr Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of the European Travel Commission, underlined that European tourist destinations are increasingly tapping into the growing middle-classes of emerging markets with the expectation of attracting a growing number of visitors in the future. In this context, air connectivity has acquired a new strategic relevance for the European economy. EU connectivity gains have been the highest to the Middle East, reflecting the increased importance of the Gulf States as trading partners for the EU and the role played by the Gulf airlines – especially Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways – in the growth of the EU-Middle East aviation market. This performance is also linked to the increasing role played by Gulf airlines in connecting the EU to Asia via their hubs.

Addressing the on-going public debate on the expansion of the Gulf airlines in Europe and the US, the President of ACI Europe said: “Open Skies and fair competition need to go hand in hand. But Europe’s airports and Tourism Organisations do not regard the public financing of airport infrastructure, start-up aid for airlines and more favourable fiscal regimes as necessarily involving unfair competition – but rather as legitimate economic development policy choices, made by the Gulf States.”

Mr Santander added: “Connectivity goes beyond Open Skies. The EU’s new Aviation Strategy should address a range of issues, such as more liberal and tourist-friendly visa policies, enhancing airport capacity, abolishing aviation taxes, reducing regulatory driven costs and implementing the Single European Sky. In the future, the major growth in tourism arrivals will arrive from the emerging source markets located outside Europe, and a good aviation strategy will be an important prerequisite to keep Europe world’s number 1 tourist destination”.

Co-Founder & Chief Editor - TravelDailyNews Media Network | Website | + Posts

Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.

She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.

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